Law courts and the media under the C9 lens

The 18th meeting of the Council of Cardinals is over: under examination the “department of Justice” and the merger of CTV and Vatican Radio. The nine members reaffirmed their “full support” to the Pope

The eighteenth session of the C9 ended

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Pubblicato il
15/02/2017

Ultima modifica il 15/02/2017 alle ore 16:45

salvatore cernuzio

VATICAN CITY

The first act was to reiterate their full “adherence and support” to the Pope and his teaching “concerning recent events.” Then the C9 - The Council of Cardinals which met from Monday, February 13 until today for its eighteenth session - continued its work discussing the merger of the Vatican media, procedures for bishops’ appointment, general reflections on different dicasteries of the Curia such as the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, for the Oriental Churches and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Meetings with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Economy, the APSA and the Office of Labor have also started along with the reform’s next step.

The Cardinals then engages in a new consultation as they started to examine the “department of Justice”, and the Courts of the Holy See: Apostolic Penitentiary, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and the Tribunal of the Roman Rota. In the Press Room, Deputy Director, Paloma Garcia Ovejero said “a substantial amount of time” was devoted on the topic, explaining that discussions focused in particular on the competence of the Apostolic Penitentiary about the “internal forum” for which it grants acquittals, handouts, switching, sanctions, amnesties and other favors. A “ministry of mercy” of which the Pope wants to deepen the role. The discussions of the law-courts - the deputy director said - will also continue in this afternoon’s final session, the 105th, at the presence of Pope Francis.

Bergoglio has missed only two meetings in these three days: Monday morning, for the ad limina visit of the Costa Rica bishops, and this morning, for he was holding the general audience in Paul VI Hall. Otherwise, he has always been present, listening to proposals, discussions along with the words of gratitude that Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, group coordinator, had spoken on Monday for the Pope’s Christmas speech dated of December 22, 2016. The words of the Pope –”the aim of reform is not aesthetic” and that the Church should not worry about the “wrinkles” but rather the “blemishes” – suggested to the nine members an “encouragement and guidelines for their work”. The council, established nearly four years ago by the Argentine Pope aims to reform the Roman Curia assist him in governing the universal Church, by drafting (it’s not known when) a new apostolic constitution to replace the current Pastor Bonus.

The closest collaborators of the Bishop of Rome therefore, wanted to express their “full support for the Pope’s work, while ensuring full adhesion and support to his person and teachings.” A necessity aroused by “recent events” as revealed a statement released in recent days by C9, which, however, did not specify which “events”. Whether it were the posters found around the city of Rome, which criticized the Pontiff’s lack of mercy, the fake copy of L’Osservatore Romano, the publication of the “dubia” by four cardinal on some passages of the Amoris laetitia or the recent row with the Knights of Malta. Not even the deputy director Paloma added details.

The cardinals then continued their revision of the Departments of the Roman Curia. Already in the seventeenth session of December 2016, were there proposals for a reform of the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Institutes of Consecrated Life, the Causes of Saints, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Now the focus has shifted on Propaganda Fide, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

The Council is also studying the process of selection of candidates for the episcopate, an issue that has already addressed in previous meetings. And, as in previous meetings, Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat of Economy, reported on his office “for the full implementation of the economic reforms asked by the Holy Father, with particular attention to staff training and human resources.” The Australian cardinal has not yet published the balance sheets of 2016 previously announced in December. “The economic balance of 2015 was delivered to the Pope, now let us wait. In any case – Paloma pointed out - it is a matter for the Council of Economy and not the C9 “.

Finally, during the eighteenth session, the prefect of the Secretariat for Communications, Monsignor Dario Edoardo Viganò, presented the current status of the Holy See reform concerning communication, that is the merging of Vatican Radio and Vatican Television center, (which belong to his own department) became “legal” starting 1 January 2017.

Viganò also presented the plan to restructure the radio frequency and the new social networks policies. Finally, there were reflections on the project to reform the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

The Council of Cardinals’s next meeting will take place on 24, 25 and 26 April 2017. In the meantime, Garcia Ovejero said, “do not expect any revolution.”